LED-based Light Engines

LED-based light engines are gaining in popularity for fluorescence imaging. However, the full potential of LED light engines remains to be realized in most imaging configurations because they are still being used with conventional filter sets designed for mercury or xenon arc lamps. These legacy broadband light sources have a significantly different spectral signature and energy distribution compared to the newer LED sources. Therefore conventional filter sets may not provide optimal performance with the new LED sources. Semrock’s LED-based light engine filter sets are aligned to the unique spectral peaks of the most popular LED-based light engines on the market today. These filter sets simultaneously deliver the brightest signal and the highest signal-to-noise ratio (contrast) available for imaging a range of fluorophores.

Semrock’s LED-based light engine filter sets are also designed to use common excitation filters between single-band and corresponding multiband configurations, simplifying interchangeability when installing the excitation filters into the light engine. This not only provides seamless transition between single-band and multiband filter sets, but also provides significant cost savings.

As the spectral plot above illustrates, Semrock’s LED-based light engine filter sets are aligned to the unique spectral peaks of the most popular LED-based light engines on the market today.

As a result of the highly optimized spectral selection of Semrock’s LED-based light engine filter sets, researchers can expect 10s to 100s of percent more signal per channel compared to filter sets designed for conventional light sources. As evidenced in the signal performance chart below, the LED-DA/FI/TR/Cy5-4X-B filter set delivers 10s of percent improved signal perfomance in the DAPI and TRITC channels and 100s of percent improved signal perfomance in the Cy5 channel compared to a traditional DA/FI/TR/Cy5-4X-B filter set. The optimization of the excitation and emission filters also allows Semrock to deliver nearly 50% improved signal in the FITC and TRITC channels when configured in Lumencor’s SPECTRA X light engine® as compared to using the standard excitation filters included in the SPECTRA X with the multiband emitter and dichroic from Semrock’s LED-DA/FI/TR/Cy5-4X-A filter set.

Semrock is now offering eleven sets in single-band, full & Pinkel multiband configurations designed to be spectrally aligned with the excitation output of the most popular LED light engines on the market today. The full line-up of filter sets can be found on the product sheet.